


At the Puppeteers Hand

by IronicGirl



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Body Horror, But not as we know him, M/M, MILD - Freeform, Mild Sexual Content, Neibolt Eddie Kaspbrak, Richie Tozier Loves Eddie Kaspbrak, Richie Tozier Needs a Hug, Teenage Losers Club (IT), eddie is dead, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:29:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26738884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IronicGirl/pseuds/IronicGirl
Summary: Something is leading Richie into the Neibolt house, perhaps it's the thing waiting inside for him. Pennywise uses Richies unresolved feelings to break him and push him from the losers.
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	At the Puppeteers Hand

**Author's Note:**

> Look, this is kind of bizarre. Even for my standards.  
> There's some dubious sexual content that could potentially be triggering, nothing super crazy or graphic but of course they're underage. So just proceed with caution. 
> 
> Please let me know you're thoughts, I've been writing a lot of IT stuff since I read the book a few years ago and have only just mustered up the courage to share this little piece!  
> More from whatever dark recess of my brain this crawled out of!

Richie was cycling home, realising only too late that he'd somehow ended up on the opposite side of town. _Shit_ , he thought, he was supposed to be home early this evening because his Nana was visiting. He pulled over onto the sidewalk, ready to turn back and pedal like mad to get home in time to avoid a telling off when he noticed where exactly he’d stopped.  
Across the street was the Neibolt House, Richie shivered despite the warm weather. He couldn’t remember why the house made his blood run cold but he knew something bad had happened here and that he shouldn’t be going anywhere near it. Like earlier, by the time we was aware of himself he was already pushing the rusty gate open and looking over his shoulder to see his bike abandoned on the other side of the road. His feet kept taking him forward, as if drawn to what was behind that front door. His sneakers squeaked on the first wooden porch step, the whole house seemed to groan.  
“Richie?” He looked up, startled. He knew that voice, he longed for that voice and hearing it struck a chord deep inside him. He practically raced up the rest of the porch stairs and he was through the rotting front door before he could really think about what he was doing. He had to find the owner of that voice.  
“Hello?” He called out, moving through the hallway and looking into the rooms on either side. The name was on the tip of his tongue, a name he’d once agonised over and that had never left his mind was now just out of his grasp.  
“Richie is that you?” It spoke again. Above me, he thought. Richie ran back to the stairs and bolted to the top only to find more closed doors.  
“I know you!” He called out, looking between the three doors on the landing “Where are you?”  
“Wherever you want me to be, Richie.” The voice giggled, sending a fresh wave of shivers up his spine. But he wasn’t frightened this time. Richie took a deep breath before advancing on the door in the middle and pushing it open, but he was stopped in his tracks when he registered what he was seeing.  
“Oh hi there, Richie,” A petite boy was sat in the centre of a large white bed, red sports shorts and a yellow t-shirt that fit him so snugly, it was rising up over his smooth stomach. He was sitting with his legs tucked beneath him, clad in white knee socks Richie noticed as his eyes trailed the scene. He was stood in the doorway, still clutching the doorknob and his other arm leaning on the frame, holding him up on account of his sudden weak knees.  
“Eddie…“ He sighed, feeling his heart hammering and an unusual stirring in his lower stomach. “Oh god, Eddie-“ Richie had to turn his head away and rubbed his face roughly, feeling lightheaded.  
“It’s okay, you can come inside.” Eddie whispered breathily, his knees notedly moving apart. He giggled again, not missing the double entendre, and Richie turned back, hand still covering the lower half of his face, eyes wide and wild.  
“Come on, baby…” Eddie sighed and beckoned the other boy with his finger. Richie’s legs took him forward, again without him wanting them to. As soon as he was close enough, Eddie reached out and took his hand as to guide him onto the bed. He went willingly suddenly feeling whole with the other boy beside him.  
“Where’ve you been, Eds?” Richie whispered, their faces close and the smell of the boy filling his thoughts “Why did you go away for so long?”  
“I’m here now.” Eddie whispered in his ear, their cheeks close enough to feel Richie's fast breaths on his neck. “I’ll always be right here, waiting for you…”  
Eddie pulled his face back, letting Richie’s hands slip around his back and hold him close. Richie looked like he was ready to combust, his cheeks were flushed and his eyes were wide, pupils big and dark behind his glasses.  
“You can kiss me if you like.” he breathed against the boys lips, smirking as Richie let out a deep breath and his hands started shaking. He leant in softly, his wide lips unsure of themselves and nervous. And then he jerked back violently, springing off the bed back to his feet.  
“What’s wrong?” Eddie asked, looking saddened with a strike of annoyance passing over his angelic features. Richie was pacing frantically, his hands wringing his hair.  
“I can’t…my parents and the others.” A crying sob escaped him “Oh god, it’s just all so wrong. I’m so wrong. I am like they all said, just a goddamn fag-”  
“Stop that.” Eddie’s voice was soft but commanding. Richie did stop his pacing, but was still rubbing his eyes hard beneath his glasses. Eddie sidled up to him, his slim arms wrapping tightly around his middle. “This is normal. You are normal. I love you Richie. I always have.”  
Richie’s hands hovered around the boy's face, and he leaned in close, kissing Eddie intently. It was like all the pieces of him settled into the right places, it felt so right. They stumbled back toward the huge bed, feeling its fluffy pillows and bedding beneath them.  
“I know how much you’ve thought about this.” Eddie gasped as Richie kissed his neck, driven by an unknown force. His hands were under Eddie’s tight t-shirt then it was off.  
“I love you so much. I never want to leave you.” Richie sighed between kisses, moving his way down the smaller boys torso. “Jesus, Eddie, I want you forever.”  
“Well that’s good-“ but something had happened to Eddie’s voice, "-you can stay here with me forever." When Richie looked up Eddie's face was decomposing, his skin was tinged green and there was dark blood bubbling around his mouth, his teeth were brown and most had fallen out.  
Richie was hit with the smell of rotting flesh and covered his nose and mouth, stumbling back off the bed which was now just a dirty mattress on a rusty metal frame. Even the room was dank and dusty. He couldn’t look away from Eddie, who was writhing and seizing until he sat up suddenly, wobbling like a string puppet. He was still smiling with his oozing mouth but then he opened his eyes and Richie threw up all over his shoes. Eddie’s eyes were milky and white, but maggots had begun to eat one of them, leaving an almost hollow socket which leaked puss like tears down his cheeks.  
“Whats the matter, baby?” The voice was hard and gritty, “Not hard for me anymore?” IT laughed as Richie collapsed, covering his face with his arms as he retched.  
“Oh come on, sweetness.” Eddie groaned, his bones clicking as he crawled toward the other boy “I know how desperate you are for me. _I’ll blow you for a dime-"_

Richie woke up covered in sweat, tears around his eyes. He sat up quickly and rubbed his face, crying and hyperventilating quietly as not to wake his parents. His stomach still felt tense and when he looked down he realised he was hard. He tried to press it down, panic growing in his chest making it hard to breath but despite his efforts the boner remained. He waddled uncomfortably to the bathroom and let the cold shower douse him as he cried, unable to shake the vision of Eddie’s rotting body.  
Eddie had died in the hospital that winter, his mother had fed him too many of her drugs and his liver had eventually given out. She’d gone to prison or to a psychiatric ward or something but he’d never forgiven her. Richie still thought about him everyday, the losers had fallen apart shortly after his funeral. Richie had started forgetting things about Eddie, like the way he spoke and some of the nicknames he’d used to annoy the boy. But he hadn’t been expecting this, he didn’t even realise the monster was back. Maybe this wasn't the monster, maybe this was worse.  
  
“You sick yesterday?” Stan asked him as he pulled his bike into the rack and chained it up.  
“Um, yeah.” Richie mumbled, only meeting his friends eye briefly before heading into the school, “I had one of those migraine headache things.”  
“Oh, that sucks.” Stan nodded, smelling a lie but deciding not to push it because of how rough Richie looked. Dark circles under his eyes, his lips chapped and bitten, even his hands were shaky and clumsy. At Lunch, Stan felt like Richie was going to ask him something serious, but he ended up covering with a joke but Stan wasn’t fooled. He knew something had happened but he also knew that if he pushed Richie to tell him it could backfire, the boys temper and his mood swings had only become more intense as they’d gotten older.  
As the week progressed, Richie seemed to slip back to his normal self, even hanging out at Stan’s after school on Thursday.  
But as the two boys cycled to school on Friday, Richie felt anxious and couldn’t shift a pit of dread in his stomach. Beverly and Ben where waiting for them when they pulled up to the entrance.  
  
“I’m sure it has something to do with the monster.” Bev insisted as they talked in the auditorium before class “I’ve had an uneasy feeling for the past few days-“  
Stan’s eyes shifted to watch Richie who seemed frozen as they listened to Bev’s story, he knew Richie knew something.  
“I don’t know why where even talking about this.” Rich huffed and leant back against the wall with disinterest “It can’t be the clown, we killed it. Or at least hurt it enough to stop it.”  
“Did you hear me?” Bev asked, looking shocked “This has all the markings of that thing!”  
“Richie, we know we didn’t stop it for good, it’s not impossible that it’s back for revenge.” Bill stepped forward, frowning at Richie from across the circle “We can’t just dismiss this.”  
“Oh yeah?” Richie stepped toward Bill, having grown a little taller than the leader “Watch me.”  
  
With that he left the auditorium headed to the bathroom. He gripped the sink and breathed deeply through his nose. They couldn’t do this without Eddie, they weren’t the same group that they were before his death. How could they have survived a murderous clown, only to be fucked over by his very own mother? How was that fair?  
“Life doesn’t play fair, Richie baby!” His head snapped up in response, only to meet Eddie’s face in the mirror, “And neither do I.”  
The gritty voice whispered, Eddie’s face falling apart in front of his eyes. Richie sank to the floor his chest tight and his hands over his ears as Eddie’s laughing filled his head, it’s tone eery and off.


End file.
